Dark Demon - Christine Feehan

For as long as she can remember, Natalya has been fighting demons: first in the form of childhood nightmares, then later, immortal creatures that kill and prey on the innocent--including her own twin brother. Whether Carpathian or vampire, she slays those who murder by night, and has no equal--until she is seduced by the ve thing she considers her enemy...
A Carpathian who has seen nearly everything in his endless existence, Vikirnoff doesn't think he can be surprised anymore--until he faces a woman who rival him as a vampire hunter. A formidable and gifted warrior in her own right, Natalya has a nature that is strange familiar--yet alien--to his own. Who is this mysterious female who fears no one--not even him? Natalya could the key to the survival of the Carpathians, but a Vikirnoff is certain of is that she is the key to his hear and soul...

I have a special fondness for Feehan as she was the first fantasy author I read. This was way back when I started reading books in English and found a huge amount of themes and plots I had never read and was enthusiastically going through all of them. Before I created this blog to keep track of my reads.  Feehan's larger than life heroes were different from anything I had read till then and I devoured the first Carpathian books.

Then other authors, plots. themes and heroes got in the way and I spent years without reading her books. Then about 5 or 6 years ago I decided to reread those first Carpathians to write a proper review. And I also read her Drake sisters books. By then I realised I enjoyed the Drake's better then the Carpathians but I was planning to keep on rereading them. I ended up never doing it due to a case of too many new books waiting on my shelves but last month I picked where I had left off  and I read Dark Demon.

In this book Feehan introduces the Dragonseekers. The heroine, Natalya is part Dragon seeker and part Carpathian. She is a warrior, her life's goal is to seek and destroy vampires. Thus she sees the Carpathians as enemies. Vikirnoff (to whom I keep calling Virkinoff in my head...) has been looking for his lifemate for some time. He has a picture of her (if it is mentioned in previous books how he got it I truly can't remember) and when he sees Natalya he knows she is the one.

I thought this might prove to be an interesting angle, with him having to prove that he is not the enemy and getting to know each other. My problem is that when they meet it is in the middle of a fight and most of the book is one fight after another between Carpathians and Vampires. There's a lot of information about the Dragonseekers and what has happened to them in the last generations. Some of which I found interesting (it seems I can't resist a tortured soul) but most of it ended up being confusing with all the other story lines - a lot of other Carpathians and their lifemates are mentioned and I had some trouble remembering all of them and what they were capable of. Natalya is a shape shifter which, I think is something new in terms of lifemates, I didn't realise if she went through any form of conversion or not.  Basically I missed having them go through the "courtship" process and that would have probably helped me in getting all the plots straight.

Then, a bigger problem for me, I think the type of language that Feehan uses is getting old. I didn't like how they talk to one another, I don't like that she keeps inserting unfamiliar words - even if she provides a translation - and I don't like that the males are always so possessive and keep trying to control their mates. It's scary not romantic all those endearments in every page and the whole feels over the top. I like over the top when it's funny not when it is supposed to be serious...

Grade: 2/5

PS. It must be that I am suffering from series-itis that I am still thinking of getting to Razvan's book... That and my fondness for Feehan will also get me to buy the first in the series that followed the Drake sisters. Is anyone reading those and recommends?